


Of Silly Consulting Detectives and Competent Ex-Army Doctors VII

by days_of_storm



Series: Of Silly Consulting Detectives and Competent Ex-Army Doctors [7]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Guilt, John Watson is stupidly romantic sometimes, M/M, Sherlock has feelings but doesn't really know how to talk about them, Some angst, snogging in public places
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:14:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22483954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/days_of_storm/pseuds/days_of_storm
Summary: Sherlock wakes John up for a case and John soon finds out that it's about much more than solving the theft of a rare plant.Happy birthday, Verity! xx
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson, Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Series: Of Silly Consulting Detectives and Competent Ex-Army Doctors [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/35804
Comments: 8
Kudos: 58





	Of Silly Consulting Detectives and Competent Ex-Army Doctors VII

**Author's Note:**

  * For [verityburns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/verityburns/gifts).



“John, I need you to be my date!” Sherlock came into the bedroom, fully dressed and groomed and altogether too awake considering the fact that it was just past 6 o’clock in the morning on a Sunday.

John dragged his eyes from the alarm clock back to Sherlock. 

“I’m always your date,” he mumbled. 

Sherlock rolled his eyes. “Get up, come on.”

“What, now? Fuck off.”

For a moment it seemed as if Sherlock might actually take offense and John considered apologising, but Sherlock simply shrugged and pulled the duvet off the bed and John. 

“Oi!” John complained and pulled his knees close to his body to avoid the cold that suddenly enveloped him. “That’s unfair.”

“Now. We’re going to Kew Gardens.”

“On a date?”

“On a date.”

John squinted at Sherlock and then shook his head. “It’s not a date this early.”

“You just said you are always my date.”

“It’s for a case.”

“Obviously.”

“See? You lied!”

“No. I want you to be my date, on a case. Two things happening simultaneously.”

“Yeah, like our orgasms last night,” John grinned, wondering if their incredible sex last night had anything to do with Sherlock going the extra mile on getting him out of bed. Sentiment. Sherlock still had trouble allowing himself to be sentimental, and it occasionally happened in the strangest of ways, but he wasn’t entirely sure what Sherlock wanted, exactly. 

Sherlock’s lips twitched, but he did not take the bait. “Please?” he simply asked and dropped the duvet onto the floor. 

John inhaled deeply and pushed himself up on his elbows. “Fine. But you better make me a very strong cup of tea first.”

“There’s a thermos flask in the kitchen.”

“How long have you been awake?”

Sherlock shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“What? The entire night?”

Sherlock’s expression grew soft. “It had been some time and I … wanted to hold on to that for a bit and then it was suddenly 4 o’clock and it made sense to just stay awake and get some work done.”

“Oh, and then you’ll fall asleep around noon.”

“So, let’s go before it catches up with me.”

John decided to humour him, if only because his explanation was quite touching. “Kew Gardens, then? Are they open at this time of day?”

“Obviously not,” Sherlock grinned and walked out of the bedroom.

John had a quick shower, his fingers lingering on the small love bite on his hip, and then dressed in several layers of clothes, knowing it would be ghastly cold outside. Sherlock was pulling on his coat when he stepped into the kitchen. “I made you a sandwich.”

John picked it up and, after considering it for a moment, wrapped it in cellophane and put it into his coat pocket. Then he pulled his coat on, wrapped a scarf around his neck, pulled on his warm hat and gloves and then shoved the thermos into the other coat pocket. 

Sherlock grinned at him and John grinned back, not quite knowing why.

It turned out that Sherlock’s date idea included breaking and entering as well as hiding out in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, waiting for a thief to come and steal some rare flowers. They took off their coats and hats and sat back to back behind a couple of ferns, not really talking. Occasionally, Sherlock would take out his phone and check the news feeds as well as his messages while John drank half of the tea before handing the bottle to Sherlock. “Have some to keep you awake.”

“I am awake.”

“As a favour to me, then?”

Sherlock took the bottle with a sigh and John smiled, pressing a little harder against his back. 

When the dark sky finally turned grey and eventually even a patchy blue, John wondered if Sherlock had gotten the wrong information. “Are you sure it’s today?” 

“Fairly.”

“That’s not … sure.”

“I know. Worth a try, though.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“Gratitude.”

“What, the plants’ gratitude for not getting stolen?”

“They’re very rare.”

John nodded. “Right.”

“Very. Rare.”

“Okay.”

“Only a couple of them survive. They are very nearly extinct.”

“You care!” John realised. Sherlock didn’t answer. “Why?”

“It’s the nymphaea thermarum.” 

“Right.”

“Tiny waterlilies.”

“Why are they important to you?”

Again, Sherlock didn’t answer. 

“Fine, don’t tell me.”

Sherlock sighed and moved away from John, causing him to turn around. “You okay?”

He stood up and began pacing in the small patch behind the ferns. 

“Sherlock, talk to me.”

“One of them was stolen in 2014.”

“And?”

“When we weren’t …”

John stood up, too, and stopped Sherlock by simply standing in his way. He placed his hand on Sherlock’s chest and looked at him, waiting for the rest of the story. “We weren’t really talking.”

“Yes. It happened when I … was distracted.”

“By us not talking.”

Sherlock nodded before his shoulders drooped and he pulled John into a tight embrace. “I need you here so I won’t be reminded of how alone I was,” he admitted against John’s neck. “I was here, on my own, and I was distracted, and the woman stole the lily while I was staring at her. But I didn’t see.”

John pushed a hand into Sherlock’s hair and kissed his cheek. “I understand.”

“Thank you.”

Sherlock slowly moved away from John, but John refused to let go of him. He kissed him, gently at first, but then Sherlock moaned quietly and suddenly there was nothing gentle or slow about the kiss. They were starting to undo the buttons of each other’s shirts when a noise startled them. They both dropped to the ground, hiding once again behind the ferns, trying to calm their breathing. 

John saw someone is a dark green coat slip out through the door they had used to enter the green house. The muddy pond a dozen yards away was missing a few of its water lilies. 

“Oh no! I’m so sorry!” John gasped incredulously. “We missed them!”

“Her!” Sherlock said, but he did not sound very disappointed. Instead, he pulled out his phone again and opened a website. A map appeared with a blinking red spot slowly moving towards the edge of the screen. Sherlock grinned and then dialled a number. 

“She’s trying to get out through the south gates. I’m forwarding you the tracker.” Sherlock hung up and then sent a text, linking to the website he had opened earlier. Then he put his phone away and rose from the ground, holding out his hand to John.

John let himself be pulled upwards and found Sherlock smiling widely. “Solved the case.”

“You did not try to catch her, then.”

“No, I just needed her to pick up any of the fake lilies that are all GPS enabled.”

John shook his head. “You could have told me.”

“I did initially want to take pictures, but … well.”

John chuckled. “You were distracted, again.”

“Much, much better, this time around.”

“What do we do now?”

“Go home?”

“Do you think forensics are going to come to take prints and all?”

“What? Why?”

“Well,” John grinned and leaned down to dust off Sherlock’s knees, only to go down on his own in front of Sherlock. “Make more memories to override the old?” he winked at him before he began unfastening his trousers. 

Sherlock took out his phone. The blinking spot had stopped. They must have caught her already. “You have about five minutes before they arrive here,” Sherlock said and switched off his phone. 

“Better hurry then,” John chuckled and pulled him out of his trousers. 

***

Sherlock slept like a stone that afternoon and John did some research on the nymphaea thermarum. He wondered if, after all, there might be a reason why Sherlock had been specifically interested in that very flower, but nothing he found seemed connected to any of his interests. 

The sun had long set when Sherlock woke up, but instead of checking his phone for any new cases, he joined John in the kitchen. “Hey,” John smiled at him and his heart gave a start when Sherlock smiled back. “Better?”

“Better,” Sherlock confirmed. “Thank you!”

John pushed a box of Chinese takeaway in his direction. “Tomorrow we’re going out.”

“We are?”

“Hmm, yes. A proper date.”

Sherlock huffed. “Boring.”

John grinned. “That entirely depends …”

“On what?”

“On your stamina.”

“Pardon?” Sherlock seemed both offended and intrigued and John chuckled and turned his open laptop to face him. On it he had marked several places on a map of London. Places which, as John could tell from his expression, Sherlock clearly recognised as problematic ones. Places where they had fought. Or not talked to each other. Or just disagreed on something. 

John smiled. “Figured we’d make some new memories together.”


End file.
